The present invention relates to a notebook personal computer, and more particularly to a notebook personal computer machine having a speaker unit installed therein or thereon.
In a conventional notebook personal computer machine, a speaker is usually mounted either inside the casing or lid on which the display screen is located or inside the casing or machine body on which the keyboard is located. In some notebook personal computers, in order to produce the acoustic effect, a separate box that contains a speaker unit as well as a driving means allowing the angle of the sound emission from the speaker unit to be varied is mounted on either or both of the lateral sides of the casing, mostly the casing or lid on which the display screen is located. For example, such notebook personal computer machines are disclosed in the documents, such as the Japanese registered utility model JP-UM-3044340, Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-A-5-324124, Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-A-8-307981 and Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-A-9-311776.
Typically, the display screen and the keyboard may be protected against any physical damages or foreign dusts when the notebook personal computer machine is in its closed position, i.e., when the lid is completely folded over the machine body.
For some conventional thin-type notebook personal computers, the speaker unit, which is of a relatively small size, is simply installed within the thin machine body. Thus, the speaker unit is not powerful enough to produce the acoustic effect that can satisfy the user""s needs. Perhaps for some design considerations, the location on which the speaker unit may be placed is restricted. Often, the speaker is not placed in its proper position. For example, in some notebook personal computers, the speaker is only placed on the right side of the casing or machine body on which the keyboard is located.
In some cases, an external speaker unit that provides more powerful acoustic effect may be used in conjunction with the notebook personal computer machine. As the speaker unit is separate from the machine, the portability is affected.
Although a larger-size speaker may be installed within the computer, particularly machine body, so that sound of a wider range can be produced, it may occupy a larger space within the machine body accordingly, which may limit the space requirements that should be reserved for other units or devices, such as hard disk drive (HDD), liquid crystal display (LCD), keyboard, and so on, that are to be installed on the computer machine. The machine must be larger in order to meet such space requirements, which may also affect the machine""s portability. As the recent trends show that the machine is becoming smaller and thinner, the machine size must be limited to the allowable minimum size in order to meet those needs. In those machines, no space might remain available to accommodate such a larger speaker.
When the speaker is placed on the side of the casing or machine body on which the keyboard is located, the sound quality (acoustic effect) from the speaker may be affected by a drive motor for the cooling fan or floppy disk (FD) drive, or by other associated units or devices mounted on the machine body that usually have complex configurations.
For those recent years, the display screen is becoming larger with the advance in the liquid crystal display (LCD) drive technology, and notebook personal computers, in which the full-scale display screen is mounted on the side of the lid by making full use of the total area of the lid, have appeared on the market. At present, there are none of the existing prior arts that can allow for the use of the larger speakers. That is, according to the existing prior arts, it is impossible to install the larger speaker within the lid where the larger display screen is present, since there is no space available. For example, all of the display screens according to the prior arts, such as the ones that are disclosed in the Japanese registered utility model JP-UM-3044340, the Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-A-8-307981, and the Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-A-9-311776, have a relatively small size so as to allow for the use of the larger speakers.
Most of the conventional notebook personal computers typically include CD-ROM drive, FD drive, PC card slot, connector ports, power switch, reset switch, volume control and so on, all of which are usually located on the lateral side ends of the casing or machine body that contains the keyboard thereon. In particular, as the software facilities or functions that are to be installed on the machine have proliferated for those recent years, the corresponding hardware components that are to be mounted on the machine are increasing. It can be seen from the above documents, however, that no means is provided for protecting the exposed portions of those components in some or other ways against any external/foreign unfavorable factors, such as scratches, dust, impacts and the like. For example, it may be noticed that the notebook personal computer, which is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-A-5324124, implements no technological concept specifically designed to protect CD-ROM drive and the like.
An aspect of the present invention is therefore to provide a notebook personal computer machine that can accommodate any size of speakers without having to modify the size of the machine body, and allows the user easily to vary or adjust the angle of the speaker.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a notebook personal computer machine that implements means for protecting the floppy disk drive (FDD), PCMCIA slot, and the like installed on the machine body against scratches, dust, and impacts.
In one aspect of the present invention, the notebook personal computer machine includes a first casing (or machine body) on which a keyboard is located and which contains a computer in terms of a central processing unit (CPU) or processor, and a second casing (or lid) on which a display screen is located on the side thereof opposite the keyboard when the second casing (or lid) is in its closed-position and which is joined to the first casing by a hinge mechanism pivotally and swingably about the hinge mechanism so that it can be folded onto or unfolded away from the first casing, wherein the notebook personal computer machine further includes a third casing that contains a predetermined number of speakers and is joined to the lateral side edge of the second casing by means of hinges pivotally and swingably about the hinges so that the third casing can be folded onto or unfolded away from the lateral side edge of the first casing and is adapted to cover the lateral side edge of the first casing when the second casing is folded over the first casing.
In another aspect of the present invention, the third casing preferably has the form of a box that can make intimate contact with the lateral side edge of the first casing when the third casing is placed in its folded position.
In a further aspect of the present invention, the third casing preferably may be provided on each respective one of the lateral side edges of the second casing, in which both are swingable and foldable about the respective hinges.
In a still another aspect of the present invention, the third casing preferably may be adapted to cover the total area of each respective lateral side edge of the first casing when the third casing is placed in its folded position.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, the sound emitting face of the speaker within the third casing preferably may be located on the face of the third casing opposite each respective one of the lateral side edges of the first casing when the third casing is placed in its folded position.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, the first casing preferably may contain a predetermined number of ancillary electronic components, which may be installed within the machine body such that their exposed sides may be located on the lateral side edges of the first casing and can be covered by the third casing when the third casing is placed in its folded position.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, the ancillary electronic components preferably may include a reader and/or writer device (CD-ROM drive, FD drive, etc.) that is capable of reading and/or writing data and/or programs from and/or to electronic recording media such as CD-ROM, FD and the like, PC card slot, connector ports, power switch, reset switch, volume control, and so on.